Titanium as a material, it is quite expensive. This tough material offers a range of advantages in aerospace manufacturing, including lightweight and versatile, but also more expensive than aluminum. As Boeing is working to reduce the cost of the 787 Dreamliner, 3D printing of titanium parts may be part of it.
Titanium as a material, it is quite expensive. This tough material offers a range of advantages in aerospace manufacturing, including lightweight and versatile, but also more expensive than aluminum. As Boeing is working to reduce the cost of the 787 Dreamliner, 3D printing of titanium parts may be part of it. Norway's 3D printing company Norsk Titanium AS meets Boeing's demand for 3D prints. Through a recently approved FAA printing process, part manufacturing collaboration can reduce the cost of Dreamliners, saving up to $ 3 million per aircraft. A Boeing 787 titanium module that can be manufactured using the RPD process is estimated to have 1,000. "We think that each part can save $ 2,500 per aircraft is $ 2.5 million, and if it produces 144 aircraft per year, it is $ 360 million. This savings is a change." Norsk also takes note of the environmental impact of the RPD process. The process also reduces the amount of titanium mining and metallurgy by reducing the amount of titanium scrap (which is expected to produce 40 pounds of waste per day).
Norsk Titanium has developed its rapid plasma deposition (RPD) process for more than 10 years, it can be less than the same components 50% to 75% of the cost of production of titanium components. The process involves conveying the room temperature titanium 6-4 cable into a plasma arc generated by a pair of torches in an argon atmosphere. Titanium temperature rise after thousands of degrees by the robot deposition arm as a liquid for 3D printing. Titanium is rapidly cured after deposition. The components are built in a closed-loop process, with little or no finishing. This April, Norsk announced that it will produce 3D printable titanium components for the Boeing 787 through RPD. Boeing designed the components and worked closely with Norsk in the development process. In order to certify these initial structural components, Boeing and Norsk performed a rigid test procedure in February with FAA certified deliverables. Norsk is the first supplier of Boeing's high deposition rate material specification. For the 787 Dreamliner on the carbon fiber body and wings, the use of titanium is essential. It is also Boeing's main rival Airbus and its A350 jet, where titanium is widely used. With Norsk Titanium's rapid plasma deposition (RPD) process, the cost of titanium parts can be reduced. In this process, the titanium wire is fed to a set of plasma torches, which are protected by an argon atmosphere. Through more efficient, low-cost, RPD allows you to create as powerful components as traditional forged parts. Boeing works closely with Norsk Titanium to design and develop components, in part because of compliance with FAA requirements. "The traditional method is to produce 20 pounds of parts with 200 pounds of forgings.We can use 20 pounds of material to produce 20 pounds of parts." Production of 200 pounds of billet and processing into 20 pounds of components required preparation time is 55-75 weeks The The same components are only 2-3 hours by RPD and finishing. Norsk claims to save 75% of the cost and time due to the significant reduction in scrap and processing energy in the process.
The FAA approval component production process is critical to reducing costs because it eliminates the need for individual agency approval on each component, which is a process of millions of dollars per square meter. Boeing and Norsk Titanium have already said that their titanium print parts are the first print structural elements that are designed to handle the requirements of the fuselage in flight. Boeing has used 3D printing parts for aerospace applications in the manufacture of jet engines and space taxis, and is also manufactured by General Electric because the group manufacturer is working on a metal 3D printing engine engine fuel nozzle. So far, this technology has shown its growing potential in the aerospace industry and other types of manufacturing.
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